Writings on the Nile: A Collection

This book illuminates the biographies of three remarkable women; it contributes to knowledge of Victorian England and the prevalent moral and intellectual preoccupations of the time; and it evokes the psychological, philosophical and spiritual impact on modern consciousness of the rediscovery of ancient Egypt.
Harriet Martineau was a doughty and influential campaigner for multiple social causes; Florence Nightingale became a universally acclaimed reformer of nursing and hospital practices; Amelia Edwards, formerly a novelist and prolific professional writer, returned from Egypt to found the Egypt Exploration Society and endow the first Chair of Egyptology at a British University. All three were independent-minded women of strong character and exceptional gifts. They were accomplished writers, each with a distinctive style, and their accounts of their Nile journeys are richly individual and full of life, thought and observation. The story of their encounters with the ideas and relics of the remote Egyptian past will speak to all those who, like their predecessors, find their imaginations deeply stirred by the monuments and artefacts of the ancient civilization. Their experience is contrasted with that of Lucie Duff Gordon who lived “among the people” in Luxor for seven years. She adds a fourth striking figure to this group of highly intelligent and gifted women whose writings on the Nile give a revealing and unusual insight into personalities and achievements of mid-Victorian life.